A Walk Along Clear Pond - Part 1

I'd been wanting to take the dogs out to some forest and photograph the early spring flowers, but was just too busy. When I finally could wait no longer, we all went to Clear Pond, in the White Hill Wild Forest. It's a favorite spot for both the dogs and for me. I signed in at the trail head register and headed through the woods toward the pond. The dogs knew what was ahead and broke into a run:

There was a campfire site near the water and that caused more excitement than the natural smells. When it comes to possible bacon drippings, hope springs eternal:

 I found several Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata) bushes in bloom, right near the water, their usual preferred location:

 My photos of the Leatherleaf flowers were not good enough, so I got this picture off the internet. They are lovely, waxy, little white bells:

With no bacon drippings to be found, Seamus began exploring the water's edge:

The shallows were filled with giant bullfrog tadpoles, sometimes in groups of two to four, sometimes in what appeared to be hundreds:

Clear Pond is a place of spectacular beauty and the dogs were enjoying it as much as I was. The only drawback was that black flies followed us everywhere and some photos were ruined because they swarmed the camera lens. That's a black fly on the upper left. The good news was that it was still cool enough so they weren't yet biting:

These were joyful dogs! What a happy life they live:

They drank pond water and explored everywhere:

The trail took us back into the forest and I continued on, looking for early spring wildflowers and heading for the next access point to Clear Pond:

The dogs ran ahead, then I called them and they came running back - joyful at all times:

 There were small mini-forests of Tree Club Moss (Princess Pine) along the trail - and there was much more yet to see. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Spring Flora White Hill Wild Forest - Part 1

I took the dogs to the White Hill Wild Forest and walked around Clear Pond one day, but took so many photos that I separated them into dog pictures and plant pictures. These are the latter, and the first photo is of Leatherleaf in bloom along the shoreline of Clear Pond:

 There didn't seem to be many flowers blooming, but the Red Maple leaves unfurling sparkled in the sun and were as pretty as any flower:

  Violets are hard to identify but I guessed that these  were Northern White Violets. They were very tiny:

 An unknown Moss. I searched Google for an ID, but finally gave up:

 Wild Strawberries, of course. They were blooming everywhere:

 Blue Flag, our Wild Iris:

 Tree Club Moss, or Princess Pine:

Viburnum lantanoides, or Hobblebush. I included the Latin name because I found the plant so difficult to find online and it wasn't in my wildflower field guide:

 A closeup of Viburnum lantanoides or Hobblebush:

 Painted Trillium:

 Pillow Moss:

 Running Club Moss, sometimes called Running Ground Pine. But there was more to see, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: